Wouldn’t it be great to find a simple way to increase law firm communication, heighten employee motivation, and strengthen your firm culture in just 7 minutes a day? Sound unlikely? An oversimplification of a complex issue?
If you have read Verne Harnish’ s book, The Rockefeller Habits, then you may already have an idea where this article is going. Verne is one of our keynote speakers for this year’s 2020 PILMMA Super Summit coming up June 23-26, in New Orleans. His seminal works, The Rockefeller Habits, and Scaling UP have revolutionized many businesses around the globe—helping them sky-rocket their profits and productivity. That’s why we are so excited to be bringing Verne to the PILMMA stage at this year’s Summit!
One of the strategies Verne discusses in The Rockefeller Habits is the importance of creating a meeting and communication structure that will aid in the IMPLEMENTATION of your firm’s goals and objectives. The idea is to set short daily “huddle meetings” that last just a few minutes, followed by more detailed weekly meetings and a longer monthly meeting. Structured and stream-lined meetings, properly executed, can accomplish a great deal in terms of keeping everyone motivated, productive, and working together to further common firm goals and objectives. This may initially sound like too many darn time-wasting meetings. But there is a method to the madness, and when the meetings are kept short and sweet, the time commitment is minimal, but they yield a maximum return.
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In a busy company or law firm, it is easy for the left hand not to know what the right hand is doing. It is easy to start strong, with clear goals set at quarterly or yearly firm meetings, only to find that the projects fall off the map and are not fully implemented. Too many balls are dropped somewhere along the way.
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Another struggle is keeping everyone on the same page. There is a tendency for each department within a company or law firm to be consumed with its own agendas. The firm may begin to feel as if it’s a conglomeration of little firms, with each department doing its own thing. Lack of communication seems inevitable. Employees can lose sight of your core values, and firm culture can easily become one of apathy and mundane to-do lists, rather than excitement. You can end up with a collection of indifferent employees rather than a powerful group of intelligent, compassionate, and committed team players working together for common goals.
Taking the time to systemize simple firm meetings held daily and weekly can go a long way towards avoiding many of the challenges highlighted above.
Here’s a Road Map for How this meeting system could operate in your firm:
1) The 7-minute Daily Power-up or “huddle “Meeting: These are brief meetings involving all key staff members. If you are a small firm, this daily meeting can be firm-wide. If you are a larger firm, then consider meeting with key staff or department heads for 7 minutes—They, in turn, can immediately have a similar 7-minute only meeting with their staff. In this way, even a large company can conceivably host a daily meeting with every single member of the team in less than 30 minutes a day!
The Details:
* These are stand up meetings. Think of a gathering by the water cooler or in the corner of the foyer and not a seated board room meeting. This is designed to be a quick, touch-base format and not a lengthy, in-depth agenda. With that in mind, no sitting down is allowed. If you are not in one building, consider a telephone conference call. (that’s how we do it in PILMMA since our team is spread out across the country.) The idea is that these are brief and to the point meetings-
* Set them for an odd time at the start of the business day, like 9:17 or 8:42. Make attendance mandatory and with the expectation that they will start promptly and exactly at the appointed time.
The Format: Each person takes turns and, in about 30 seconds, shares three important points: 1) their win from yesterday, 2) what they are stuck on now, if anything, and 3) their priority for Today.
This short and sweet format gives everyone an idea of what each other is doing and creates motivation and accountability. If anyone is stuck on something, they aren’t languishing alone on the issue and wasting a day or two. If someone else in the group has a helpful solution to a team member’s sticking point, they can share it privately immediately after the huddle. This also gives you critical insights into your employees’ work loads and priorities. You have the immediate opportunity to shift priorities as needed up front rather than finding out a week later that what you thought was on an employee’s front burner had been relegated to the back burner.
For a team to work together, it helps if every player understands the game plan and participates in keeping the ball moving forward each day. These short daily huddle meetings can help you keep your firm working effectively, efficiently, and with clearer vision and feedback.
2) The Weekly Meeting: The Weekly Meeting is longer than the daily huddle but should still take no more than 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the amount of ground you want to cover.
Format: Everyone Shares 3 Critical pieces of Feedback with the group. 1) What we should Start Doing, 2) What we should Stop Doing, and 3) What we should Keep Doing.
Your staff and associates are on the ground floor, getting the work done, and using the systems you have put in place. Many times, they have ideas and insights about what is working and not working. By giving them a vital voice and a safe place to share their observations and ideas, you will be surprised at the insights you will likely receive. When employees and staff feel that their opinions are welcomed, it increases their motivation and their commitment to your firm. It’s a win-win.
The weekly meeting is also a time to address 1 or 2 specific issues that need attention. By having everyone involved, you can identify and solve challenges efficiently, and before they become big problems. This is also a great opportunity to reiterate firm core values, focusing on one per week, etc.
PILMMA has implemented this daily and weekly meeting format from the Rockefeller Habits with success. We are more motivated, more focused, and the firm culture is stronger. Most importantly, we are implementing our Goals more rapidly, with increased communication.
If your curiosity is piqued and you want to know more about the “Rockefeller Habits” that jump start productivity and improve firm communication and culture, then check out Verne Harnish’ s book. And make sure you hear his upcoming key-note at PILMMA’s 2020 Super Summit in New Orleans! ◆
